Battlefield Art: Transformations at the Canadian War Museum

A.Y. Jackson’s A Copse Evening is on display at the Canadian War Museum as part of an exhibit on World War I art.

Two artists — a Canadian and a German — were enemy combatants who fought in the same war, on the same front, but never met. Now, for the first time, these two World War I soldiers share the same space 100 years later in Transformations, an art exhibit at the Canadian War Museum. The exhibit features the works of A.Y. Jackson, best known as a member of the iconic Group of Seven painters, and Otto Dix, a well-known German artist, whose art was sidelined by the Nazis. Jackson’s landscapes, with their twisted, dying trees, represent the horror of the battlefield, while Dix’s depictions of the war and post-war period are more overt — sometimes brutal. Each artist presents his own unique, honest, and grim perspective on a period currently being remembered for its Centenarian anniversary. On display until September 21. •Canadian War Museum, 1 Vimy Place, 819-776-7000. warmuseum.ca